Wearing a dark suit with an open collar and grey coloring sprinkled through his hair, Idris Lockett looks every bit like Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
He wanted to be there Wednesday as Lightfoot presided over her final City Council meeting. Two years ago, the now seven-year-old went viral when he donned the Mayor’s signature outfit.
“She is an inspiration to little boys and girls everywhere,” said Lockett’s mother Catherine, who had brought a bouquet of flowers to give the outgoing mayor who she credits with making big improvements on the city’s South and West sides.
It was Lightfoot’s legacy that council members were remembering as they bid farewell to her and more than a dozen their own colleagues who either lost their elections or have decided to step down. 30th Ward Ald. Ariel Reboyras is one of the latter.
He spent the past 44 years in various forms of public service, with the last 20 in City Council.
“I say I won’t miss it, but I think I will,” Reboyras said.
Lightfoot made sure all city business was done before the tributes could start.
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“You always did what you thought was right,” said sometimes council combatant Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa.
Ally David Moore praised her for following through on her campaign promises.
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“You’ve done more than any other mayor in this city including Harold Washington because he didn’t get to finish,” he said.
Alderpeople Scott Waguespack and Pat Dowell made their feelings known through Haiku. Dowell wrote her own.
Memories connect
Friendships and accomplishments
Neighborhoods intertwined
This was also the last day in city Council for the 14th Ward’s Ed Burke, who has been part of the chamber for more than half a century.
The tenure was not lost on 45th Ward Alderman James Gardiner who quipped, “you have been here longer than I have been alive…truly.”
In his last speech from the floor, Ald. Burke quoted Anglo-Irish Statesman Edmund Burke saying, “In politics there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.”
Many of the council members said they could not spend the entire day simply reminiscing. They are also looking forward to the new city council and the challenges they will face.
“We are going to have a very young, very progressive mayor and a room that is 30 percent new,” said 15th Ward Alderman Ray Lopez.
Little Idris never did get to give his flowers to Lightfoot, who left right after the meeting finished. But Ald. David Moore stepped in and gave he and his mother the VIP tour of the Council chamber.
The tour included a chance to sit in the mayor’s chair and even bang her gavel. In less than a month, that chair will belong to Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.
